"You've got to coach your team to win in the long run and you have to do whatever you need to do," Rivers said before a Friday game against the Blazers, according to the Associated Press. "If that’s sitting players, you sit players."

Rivers also took a dig at Stern, who threatened "significant sanctions" in a statement released before the Spurs and Heat tipped off on Thursday.

“I think it was an action and a reaction personally, and I think the reaction was probably overdone [Thursday], and then all of a sudden you have to have an action,” Rivers said, according to WEEI.com.

Popovich, a four-time champion, and Rivers, who coached the Celtics to the 2008 title, are regarded as arguably the two best coaches in the NBA. Both have been floated as possible successors to coach USA Basketball once Duke's Mike Krzyzewski decides to step down.

In explaining the fine, Stern essentially relied on a "for the good of the game" argument.

"The Spurs decided to make four of their top players unavailable for an early-season game that was the team’s only regular-season visit to Miami," his statement read. "The team also did this without informing the Heat, the media, or the league office in a timely way. Under these circumstances, I have concluded that the Spurs did a disservice to the league and our fans. The Spurs’ actions were in violation of a league policy, reviewed with the NBA Board of Governors in April 2010, against resting players in a manner contrary to the best interests of the NBA."

But Stern clearly opened up a slippery slope with his ruling, as coaches need to juggle line-ups and rest players throughout the season for a variety of injuries. Popovich's decision to not only rest Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Danny Green, but to fly them home to San Antonio, was clearly an extreme case. But the issue of a coach's right to make decisions governing his lineups and the management of players, particularly veterans, over the course of a long season looms large behind Stern's decision.

Popovich has argued that the strategic resting of players is simply a "very logical" approach during a long season with many games in a short period of time. Thursday's game was San Antonio's fourth in five nights and the second half of a back-to-back.